The HHS Office of Minority Health has issued a new funding opportunity announcement for demonstration projects that will evaluate if modifications to existing evidence-informed interventions for selected health issues will significantly improve health outcomes for racial and ethnic minority and disadvantaged populations. HIV is included in the list of prioritized health issues that these projects can address.

The funding opportunity is State/Tribal/Territorial Partnership Initiative to Document and Sustain Disparity-Reducing Interventions (MP-CPI-20-001). Up to 26 two-year awards are anticipated, with first year funding ranging from $250,000-300,000 per award. Applications are due August 26, 2020. Application materials are available here.

According to the funding announcement, the initiative is intended to help build the capacity of state, tribal, and territorial governmental health agencies to achieve two main goals: (1) test modifications to existing public health programs or practices (interventions) to assess if the modified interventions are successful in significantly improving health outcomes for selected health issues; and (2) develop effective plan(s) to sustain successful interventions after the award period.

OMH expects projects to involve a collaborative partnership, and specifically encourages partnerships with minority-serving institutions of higher education, particularly with medical schools at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) to support workforce diversity and encourage a focus on racial and ethnic health disparities.